FORKS — The Quillayute Valley School District Auction’s top dollar item once again was a woven basket donated by longtime supporter Murial Huggins.

The basket brought in $3,100 toward the $71,598 total raised for scholarships for Forks graduates.

Although the basket didn’t fetch as much as last year’s — which went for about $5,900 — in sentimental value it went much farther.

The basket went to members of the Hoh tribe who are descended from Leila Fisher, who wove the basket for Huggins in the 1960s.

Marsha Bingham, who heads up the auction, said she didn’t take the woman’s name down but that she was the grandaughter of Fisher and still resides in the area.

“It was of such great sentimental value to us that it went to that family,” Bingham said.

Another top-dollar item was the rebuilt BMW donated by Peninsula College, which went for $2,050. And, although individually not fetching huge amounts, firewood donated by Olympic Corrections Center, the Department of Natural Resources and Rayonier added up to $5,025.

Wooden furniture and carefully crafted toys by a crew at the Olympic Corrections Center brought in an additional $7,528.

“We have been very fortunate,” Bingham said.

“This year we had a wonderful group of seniors [from Forks High School] who ran the auction,” she said. “They worked together so well, and we have this incredible town with people who crawled out of the woodwork to help out.

“We even had one senior wrestler who baked six pies  all on his own and donated them.”

She said in addition to the top dollar items, doilies, bread, candy, walking sticks, bikes and a generator were among the nearly 900 items that were sold at the auction.

The room at the Forks branch Bank of America stayed full of people too, she said.

“People would come and go, and of course the room was just packed on Sunday night when we did the big dollar items like the car and basket,” she said.

This year the auction was dedicated to Huggins and to Link Mueller who has annually made candy or baked bread to donate to the auction since its 1968 inception.

Some 40 to 60 scholarships are awarded each year from money primarily raised from the auction.

The scholarships to any institution of higher learning can be given to any graduate of Forks High School or who were home schooled  at any point in their lives, as long as they qualify, Bingham said.

All who qualify receive some money, Bingham said.

The amount varies. Awards are based on both need and merit, she said.

In past years, awards were given just for the first two years at an institution of higher learning, but the group has now expanded to handing out scholarships for other years as well now, Bingham said.

To apply for a scholarship visit the Quillayute Valley School District Web site at www.forks.wednet.edu.